September 11, 2001

Should terrorists launch new attacks, we believe their
preferred targets will be U.S. Government facilities and national symbols,
financial and transportation infrastructure nodes, or public gathering
places. Civil aviation remains a particularly attractive target in light
of the fear and publicity that the downing on an airline would evoke.

— National Intelligence Estimate, 1995.
In 1998 and 1999 the FAA intelligence unit further warned that terrorists
might hijack
a plane and use it as a weapon. Source is the 9/11
Commission report, page 54, redacted when first issued but following a
declassification review made public in September 2005.

I would like to fly in a professional like manners one of
the big airliners. I have to made my mind which of the followwing: Boeing
747, 757, 767, 777 and or Airbus A300 (it will depend on the cost and
which one is easiest to learn).
The level I would like to achieve is to be able to takeoff and land, to
handle communication with ATC, to be able to successfully navigate from A
to B (JFK to Heathrow for example).
In a sense to be able to pilot one of these Big Bird, even if I am not a
real professional pilot.

— Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker, in a
2001 letter written to the Pan Am International flight academy. They
guessed him to be a rich playboy, but when when they started training him
they called the FBI. Reported (with his exact misspellings) by the New
York Times, 8 February 2002.

I knew he wasn't real pilot material—he had actually
studied his manuals and didn't talk about girls.

I did what I had to do, and you should be very proud of
that. It is a great honour and you will see the result, and everyone will
be celebrating.

— Ziad Jarrah, hijacker on United Airlines flight 93,
in a letter to his girlfriend, Ayse Sengun, that was intercepted by U.S.
authorities. In the letter he also said that he loved her very much. Dated
10 September 2001.

Either end your life while praying, seconds before your
target, or make your last words: 'There is no God but God, Mohammad is His
messenger.'

— translated from written instructions for Mohamed
Atta, the terrorist at the controls of AA flight 11.

The cockpit is not answering their phone and there's somebody
stabbed in business class and there's, we can't breathe in business class.
Somebody's got Mace or something.

We have some planes. Just stay quiet and we'll be O.K. We are returning
to the airport. . . Nobody move, everything will be O.K. If you try to
make any moves, you will injure yourself and the airplane. Just stay
quiet.

— Mohamed Atta, hijacker on American Airlines
flight 11, heard over Boston Center ATC frequency. Note use of the plural,
"planes." 08:24 East Coast time,
11 September 2011.

Hi, Boston Center, TMU [traffic management unit], we have ah a problem
here, we have a hijacked aircraft headed towards New — New York and we
need you guys to, we need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up
there to help us out.

— Joseph Cooper, Boston Center air traffic
controller, phone call to Sgt. Jeremy Powell at North American Aerospace
Defense Command (NORAD), alerting them of a suspected hijacking of
American Airlines flight 11. 08:37 East Coast time, 11 September 2011.

— Madeline Amy Sweeney, American Airlines flight
attendant, end of her phone call to supervisor Michael Woodward describing
the hijacking of AA flight 11. She provided many important details before
the plane was crashed into the World Trade Center, 11 September 2001.

— Jeremy Glick, software executive and passenger on
United flight 93, last reported words from his cell phone call, 11
September 2001.

Are you guys ready? Let's roll.

— Todd Beamer, Oracle software executive and passenger
on United flight 93, last reported words from his cell phone call to Lisa
Jefferson, a GTC telephone switchboard operator (he didn't want to worry
his pregnant wife). They talked for 13 minutes, during which they
discussed the hijacking and recited together the Lord's Prayer and Psalm
23: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
me." 11 September 2001.

They're coming.

— voice in Arabic, reportedly toward the to end of the
United flight 93 CVR. 11 September 2001.

!FDC 1/9731 FDC SPECIAL NOTICE - DUE TO EXTRADORDINARY
CIRCUMSTANCES AND FOR REASONS OF SAFETY. ATTENTION ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATORS,
BY ORDER OF THE FEDERAL AVATION COMMAND CENTER, ALL AIRPORTS/AIRDROMES ARE
NOT AUTHORIZED FOR LANDING AND TAKEOFF. ALL TRAFFIC INCLUDING AIRBORNE
AIRCRAFT ARE ENCOURAGE TO LAND SHORTLY.

— first FDC special notice issued by the FAA on the
morning of September 11, 2001, which grounded all U.S. flight operations
until further notice after the simultaneous quadruple hijacking. Aviation
was spelled incorrectly.

Headquarters in Washington demanded to know who gave Ben Sliney the authority to land all aircraft. And then 20 minutes later called back to know why I hadn't done it sooner.

— Ben Sliney, National Operations Chief, FAA. Interview in TV show 9/11: Day That Changed The World, Smithsonian Channel, 2011.

Anyone flying within 25 miles of the Washington TACAN is
authorized to be shot down.

— Washington Approach ATC, radio broadcast to the
combat air patrol forming over the U.S. capital. Personal accounts and
reported in AW&ST, 9 September 2002. Morning of 11 September 2001.

What's the sense of sending $2 million missiles to hit a
$10 tent that's empty?

— President George W. Bush, Oval Office meeting, 13
September 2001.

Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile
is going to find a person?

— US Defense Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld, regards
questions on an air war to kill Osama bin Laden, 23 September 2001.

It almost isn't sporting, is it?

—Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, watching one of the first drone strikes in Afghanistan via satellite. Langley, VA, a few weeks after 9/11

I know planes, but I don't know INS.

— Berton Beach, Vice President of Operations
Aeroservice Aviation Center, Miami, (where 9-11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah
studied) regards how Saddam Hussein's stepson Mohammad Saffi was able to
enroll without the required student visa. INS was the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. July 2002.

If you want to travel on the airline system, you give up your privacy.
If you want your privacy, don't fly. Flying is voluntary.

— Robert Crandall, former CEO American Airlines, April
2002.

The tolerance of the public is diminishing. We're spending time on the
wrong people. It's nutty. There has to be a better way. Why are we
stripsearching Aunt Molly from Iowa and letting on Richard Reid?

— Donald Carty, Chairman and CEO American Airlines,
April 2002.

I never got a lot done using a broomstick. You've got to have something
that's lethal.